Chevy to Boost Ad Spending For Passenger Cars in ’93

NEW YORK – Chevrolet general manager J.C. Perkins said last week that the troubled GM division will get an increase in ad spending for 1993 as a measure to stem its sliding market share and share of voice in the passenger car market. Though Perkins declined to say how much, GM sources said Chevy’s budget will likely get a 5% to 10% bump.‘Jack Smith (GM chief executive officer) told me he wants Chevy to get back to where we are doing 50% of GM’s sales volume next year,’ said Perkins. ‘And we are going to get the advertising resources to get us there.’Chevy’s combined car and truck sales, including Geo, in 1992 represented about 48% of GM’s total. The real trouble area is Chevy branded passenger cars. Chevy has lost over 400,000 in car sales over the last six years, while market share has fallen from 13.3% in 1987 to 11.2% in 1992. Those figures do not include Geo sales. Meanwhile ad spending for Chevy passenger cars, according to Leading National Advertisers, fell from $164 million in 1990 to an estimated $120-130 million for 1992.Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)